The Emerald
Society & Culture
About
The Emerald explores the human experience through a vibrant lens of myth, story, and imagination. Brought to life through the wise, wild, and humorous vision of Joshua Michael Schrei — a teacher and lifelong student of the cosmologies and mythologies of the world — the podcast draws from a deep well of poetry, lore, and mythos to challenge conventional narratives on politics and public discourse, meditation and mindfulness, art, science, literature, and more. At the heart of the podcast is the premise that the imaginative, poetic, animate heart of human experience — elucidated by so many cultures over so many thousands of years — is missi...
Episodes
- Enter the Dragon, Part 2: On Order and Chaos
The Emerald podcast episode, "Enter the Dragon, Part 2: On Order and Chaos," discusses the mythical significance of dragons and serpents across various cultures. It delves into the Western perspective on dragons, exploring how these figure…
- Enter The Dragon, Terrifying and Beautiful (Part 1)
This episode explores the prevalence and symbolism of dragon lore in global mythology, examining the dragon as a representation of the primal, paradoxical power of the cosmos. Featuring interviews with Nyoongar Elder Noel Nannup and Shipib…
- Carry That Weight: On Mythic Burdens and Cosmic Supports
This episode of The Emerald discusses the immense weight individuals carry in modern society due to fractured support systems and deepening crises. It contrasts this with traditional cultures that utilize communal, ecological, and cosmic s…
- I Think I Hear the Coming of a Planetary Roar (with Louder Music)
This episode of The Emerald discusses the power of mythic roars and uttered sound to process personal, ecological, and planetary crises, drawing on traditions like Norse Ragnarok and featuring music from Snow Raven and others.
- I Think I Hear the Coming of a Planetary Roar
This episode delves into myths featuring roaring sounds and deities that signify transformation and transition, drawing parallels to personal and planetary impasses. It includes insights from Rune Rasmussen and features various artists lik…
- On Powers, Great and Small
This episode explores different perspectives on power, contrasting the modern abstract view with the traditional animate systems' concept of power as a tangible, natural force inherent in the structure of nature. It highlights the importan…
- Trickster Jumps Sides (Re-Issued for Tricky Times)
This episode examines trickster figures in global mythology, such as Loki and Coyote, who challenge norms and drive change. It contrasts their sacred status in ancient cultures with their marginalization in modern society, exploring how un…
- On Singing to the Beloved in Times of Crisis
This episode of The Emerald discusses how singing to a beloved universe helps navigate times of individual, sociocultural, and planetary crisis. It features a conversation with Dr. Omid Safi and music by various artists.
- For the Divine Mother of the Universe (Remixed and Reissued)
This episode explores the concept of the Goddess beyond modern interpretations, viewing her as the animating power of the universe. It draws on traditional texts, myths, songs, and personal experiences to evoke the Goddess as a living pres…
- This Episode is FIRE
This episode discusses the deep, ancient connection between humanity and fire, dating back over 1.5 million years. It explores how fire shaped human consciousness, enabled storytelling and planning, and influenced ritual practices. The epi…
- (Why Mindfulness Isn't Enough)
Modern mindfulness practices, detached from their rich traditional contexts including rituals and ecological connection, may not benefit individuals as intended. A more holistic, ritualistic approach is suggested to cultivate a fuller mind…
- Guardians and Protectors!
This episode discusses traditional guardianship practices across cultures, such as invoking deities and setting boundaries. It features experts like Dr. Ben Joffe and Robert Svoboda, contrasting these practices with modern spiritual trends…
- Let Us Sing of the Syncretic Gods of Outcasts and Wanderers
This episode of The Emerald discusses the fluid and adaptive nature of cultural traditions, highlighting how syncretism leads to new expressions of religious figures and practices. It examines the movement of gods and the assimilation of t…
- On Clouds and Cosmic Law
This episode contrasts modern, restrictive views of 'law' with historical traditions that see an innate, vibrant order in the natural world. It explores how aligning with this 'Law of the Land' through ritual and communal connection can al…
- Oh Justice
This episode examines justice not as a human contract but as a dynamic, living force inherent in the natural world. It draws on diverse voices to explore how aligning with this cosmic law can offer a path through global crises, personal gr…
- For the Intuitives (Part 2)
This episode explores the historical persecution of seers and visionaries, contrasting the values of 'civilization' with their sensitivities. It argues that while modernity marginalizes these figures, leading to issues like 'free market sp…
- For the Intuitives (Part 1)
This episode discusses the historical role of intuition and oracular vision, contrasting it with modern society's tendency to pathologize or monetize these gifts. It features discussions with Frederick Smith, Bernardo Malamut, and Sophie S…
- All of My Lessons Come in the Form of a Sound ( w/ Trevor Hall)
This episode discusses the concept of a universal sound, present in music and traditions worldwide, and its power to renew our connection to the world. Featuring musician Trevor Hall, it highlights the role of the bard in listening to and…
- Reissue: On Trauma and Vegetation Gods
This episode of The Emerald discusses the connection between ancient vegetation god myths and rituals and modern trauma work. It highlights how traditional cultures used cathartic rituals tied to the cycle of vegetation for healing, explor…
- So You Want to Be a Sorcerer in the Age of Mythic Powers... (The AI Episode)
This episode delves into the mythic parallels of Artificial Intelligence, suggesting that understanding AI's implications requires a mythical perspective. It argues that AI's powers mirror those of sorcerers, and the human drive to create…
- Inanimate Objects Aren't Inanimate (Or Objects)
This episode of The Emerald delves into the concept of animacy, challenging the notion of inanimate objects by drawing parallels between ancient myths, modern scientific discoveries, and the idea that everything in the world possesses agen…
- Animism is Normative Consciousness (Re-mixed, Re-musicked, and Re-released)
This episode discusses animism as humanity's original, normative consciousness, emphasizing direct experience over abstract thought. It explores the foundational role of this animate worldview in human experience and what is lost as it fad…
- The Revolution Will Not Be Psychologized, Part 2 (Interview w/ Báyò Akómoláfé)
In this episode of The Emerald, Josh interviews Báyò Akómoláfé about the complicity of Western psychology in shaping modernity and the industrialization of the human subject. They explore alternative understandings of being, agency, and se…
- The Revolution Will Not Be Psychologized
This episode discusses the increasing dominance of psychological vernacular in modern discourse, potentially overshadowing traditional spiritual and animacy concepts. It examines the need to decenter Western psychology and re-evaluate how…
- Universe, Adorned: Ornament in Culture, Cosmos, and Consciousness
This episode examines the deep human impulse to adorn, tracing its origins over 160,000 years ago. It explores how adornment connects to cosmic patterns, consciousness, and shamanic practices across various traditions, including Tantric an…
- On Birds, and the Imperative of Mystic Flight
This episode discusses the profound influence of birds on human culture, spirituality, and consciousness, highlighting their role in myth, language, and the capacity for imagination and 'mystic flight'. It suggests that understanding our c…
- Embodiment Means Being Torn Apart and Flying Away
This episode examines the concept of embodiment, differentiating modern interpretations focused on wellness and personal processing from traditional mythic and ritual visions where bodies are often torn apart or transformed as part of comm…
- No One Here Gets Out Alive (The Death Episode)
This episode of The Emerald explores the universal experience of death, contrasting ancient cultures' embrace of death rituals and intermediary states with modern society's fear and attempts to reverse aging. It delves into the mytho-somat…
- Reissue: How Trance States Shape the World
This episode discusses the historical and cultural significance of trance states, highlighting their role in community bonding, values, and understanding reality. It examines how the modern pathologization of these states has led to a loss…
- I Wish It Could Have Been Another Way (A Lament w/ Peia Luzzi)
This episode of The Emerald explores collective grief over social and environmental destruction, drawing on mythic traditions like Demeter and the sirens. It offers a journey through lamentation, featuring original music, and suggests grie…
- Your Consciousness Comes From the Moon
This episode discusses the profound influence of the moon on life, consciousness, and biological rhythms, linking lunar cycles to early human measurement, ritual, and the very structure of our bodies and thoughts.
- Awake in the Forest of Dangers and Wonders
This episode delves into the forest's role as a character in myths, representing both beauty and peril. It discusses animism not just as appreciating nature, but as cultivating a deep, discerning relationship with all its forces, crucial f…
- War and Ritual Ecstasy
This episode of The Emerald examines war through the lens of ritual ecstasy, suggesting it fulfills a primal human need for somatic intensity. It draws parallels between war protocols and ecstatic rituals, proposing that rediscovering outl…
- Neck Hairs of the Shapeshifter (w/ Simon Thakur)
This episode of The Emerald features Simon Thakur and Dr. Natalie Mylonas discussing shapeshifting across global myths and science. They explore how embracing the sensate body and practices like animal dance can reconnect us to the natural…
- For the Divine Mother of the Universe (w/ Nivedita Gunturi)
This episode honors the Goddess as the universe's animating power, distinct from modern cultural interpretations. It draws on traditional texts, myths, and songs, featuring guest Nivedita Gunturi, to evoke her as a living presence.
- Snail Juice & Bear Fat & Werewolf Moons (w/ Leah Song of Rising Appalachia)
This episode discusses how modern culture encroaches on the unknown, emphasizing the need to slow down and connect with deeper rhythms. Leah Song of Rising Appalachia joins to talk about accessing primordial, wild spaces, which are essenti…
- The Body is the Metaverse
This episode of The Emerald discusses the digital Metaverse, contrasting it with traditional body-based trance practices. It examines how traditional methods use the body for renewal and warns against the misuse of trance-induction techniq…
- Festivals! Initiation and the Brilliance of Eternity
This episode of The Emerald discusses the historical significance of festivals in fostering community, providing ritualized experiences of initiation and rapture, and connecting people with the natural world. It contrasts traditional festi…
- On Resonance: Caves, Hooves, Hearts, Harps... and the Birth of Culture
This episode explores the deep meaning of resonance, arguing it is a fundamental principle in nature and the driving force behind human culture and decisions. It examines how resonance shaped early societies and how modernity has led to a…
- Becoming a Ruin: Decomposing and Regrowing the Mythic with Sophie Strand
Sophie Strand, described as a writer and animist troubadour, discusses her eco-centric approach to mythic stories with Josh. They explore her Myco Eco Mytho model, examining concepts like Orphic root systems and revitalizing the divine.
- Mapping The Mystic: Geographies of Ecstasy in Consciousness and Culture
This episode of The Emerald discusses how mystic experiences, often considered ineffable, might be culturally articulated. It explores the idea of tangible mystic geographies and proposes that these states reflect an alignment with natural…
- The Shape of Stories: How Myths Move Through Bodies and Worlds
This episode of The Emerald examines Kurt Vonnegut's idea that stories have shapes, specifically exploring the energetic trajectories of myths. It connects these mythic shapes to natural cycles and somatic structures, suggesting that the u…
- TRA is for Trance: On the Linguistics of Crossing Over
The episode examines the Indo-European root 'TRA,' linking words like 'trance' and 'transcendence' to the concept of crossing over. It contrasts traditional ritualized trance practices with modern society's constant, often unconscious, 'cr…
- On Trauma and Vegetation Gods
This episode of The Emerald discusses how traditional cultures historically engaged in trauma work through rituals tied to vegetation gods. It explores the cyclical nature of growth, decay, and death in vegetation, mirroring human experien…
- Tyson Yunkaporta on Pattern, Kinship, and Story in a World of Decontextualized Minds
This episode features Tyson Yunkaporta discussing his 'five minds' model from his book 'Sand Talk.' The discussion uses this framework to examine the fragmentation in the modern world, drawing parallels from Aboriginal rain rituals to QAno…
- Semele, Kuṇḍalinī, and the Path of Interiorized Lightning
This episode examines lightning myths worldwide, highlighting their connection to ecstatic states. It revisits the story of Semele and explores how traditions like Kuṇḍalinī and Sufism use the concept of "interiorized lightning" to describ…
- Trickster Jumps Sides: Disruption and the Anatomy of Culture
This episode examines trickster figures in global mythology, such as Loki and Coyote, who challenge norms and drive change. It contrasts their sacred role in ancient cultures with their marginalized status today, exploring how unritualized…
- The Many Voices of Water, Part 2: Imagining Water Beyond Lines
This episode of The Emerald explores our complex relationship with water, critiquing its commodification and advocating for a deeper, reciprocal connection that values its inherent qualities over mere utility. It features insights from Wat…
- How Trance States Shape the World
This episode discusses the essential role of ecstatic trance states in human culture and history, impacting bonding, values, and healing. It examines how the pathologization of trance in the modern world leads to destructive behaviors, con…
- The Many Voices of Water, Part 1: Oceans of Melancholy and Bliss
This episode explores the concept of water as a living entity with many voices, drawing parallels between the Ancient Greek world and Afro-Brazilian traditions honoring Iemanja. It discusses the connection between consciousness and the oce…